Urban had a pretty good weekend - I think they landed 5 commitments this weekend.Originally posted by NewHampshireIrish:
Snagging the top two OL prospects out of Ohio has to leave Urban feeling mighty upset! GO ND!!!!!
Agree on your take on OL guys . I think effort - intensity trumps star ratings re OL --if you have both your a starOriginally posted by R1950:
Not trying to belittle the Eichenberg committment at all. You guys beat us out for him. Nice job and I wish the kid nothing but the best. He looks like he's could be a good one, a very good one.
But OL is the one position that gets me scratching my head sometimes. I've been following the Buckeyes since the early 60s and can't tell you the number of highly rated OLs that basically rode the pine while at OSU. Perfect example: last year's right side of OSU's NC OL line - Boren. Elflein, and Baldwin. All were 3-stars out of HS. Boren and Elflein weren't recruited by hardly any other major schools but yet they beat out more highly-rated 4 and 5 star lineman. People were bitching about them when they committed, And man, our we glad now to have both of them returning this year. I think it's more about development with the OL than any other position.
I will give you guys a lot of credit though. You're probably the only school that can come into Ohio an pull out HS players that OSU is after and that usually happens at a Catholic HS. Your outstanding academics and of course you tradition both plays a part in their decisions. Hey, it happens. We've been doing the same to the Texas and Florida schools a lot lately. Big gets in both Kraemer (sp?) and Eichenberg. Congrats !
Spoke to a OL from BC ten yrs ago -- he basically said that the OL on ND under Weis were pussies .Originally posted by R1950:
No kid coming out of HS will translate to being a high level OLinemen unless he has a serious dose of Eye of the Tiger and healthy chip on his shoulder .
Bingo ! Well put. Perfect example is our center Boren. They list the kid as 6'1" and 285. I doubt if he's that. I know he isn't 6'1", maybe 5'11". Basically he's a runt/midget compared to our other offensive linemen. But he comes out of the huddle spitting nails. Urban has said many times that he'd go to war with that kid. I''ve watched the replay of the Alabama/OSU Sugar Bowl several times now (of course) and focused on the interior line play and the job that runt did on the 8 to 9 man-deep, NFL-type Alabama defensive line was over the top, unbelievable. Keep in mind, they shredded that defense to the tune of 280 something yards rushing and most of that can be attributed to the 3-star interior line play, kids that people bitched about out of HS.
But yeah, you're dead on about the eye of the tiger/healthy chip statement. I agree 100%
All in-coming Freshman at Notre Dame take the same required courses. No exceptions. We don't have easy majors at ND.Originally posted by R1950:
"I decided on Notre Dame mainly because of the academics," Eichenberg said Sunday afternoon after announcing his commitment on Twitter. "I could not pass up the academics along with Coach Hiestand. I have a great relationship with him."
Again, congratulations on Eichenberg. Great pickup for the Irish. I hear he has a nnasty streak which we talked abbout earlier. But you're also leaving out the statement made in his early recruiting about looking at the depth charts. OSU is probably done for the year with 2 OL. They already had a commitment from T. Gerald who transferred from Ohio to IMG powerhouse in Florida and would have taken both Kraemer and Eichenberg if both wanted to come. That's it. They're OL roster next year is stacked. They'll have 17 scholarship OL on the 2015/2016 roster.
Last year's OL 2014 commits - RS Frosh - Sophs (5): Trout, Taylor, Knox, M. Jones. J. Jones. If you really want to look at rankings, all were 4 & 5 stars on at least a service or two except Taylor (3 star).
This year's OL (incoming frosh) 2015 commits (6) - incoming frosh; Schmidt, Prince, Jurkovic, Feder, Burrell, Bowen. All were 4 or 5 stars on at least one service except Jurkovic (3 star).
That's eleven players next year who, for the most part, are new to the program
Great for the kid. He's going to the school of his choice. But believe me, the OL was not a main OSU priority this year and you can bet Eichenberg picked up on the depth. Plus, I'm not sure what he'll be majoring in. Maybe ND has a better program tha OSU. But you ought to present all of the facts. Oh, BTW, our OL line coach Ed Warriner, isn't exactly chopped liver.
Don't put Michigan in the same class academically as ND.Originally posted by R1950:
You'll never hear me say anything derogatory about ND academics. Top notch school. One of the best. But if you travel around the other boards, quite a few people take shots at BIG schools like OSU and if you really do the research, all BIG schools are outstanding academically. Up to ND, Northwestern and even Michigan (Man I hate saying that) standards ? Probably not but still not too shabby. I have a cousin from Chicago that graduated from ND and man, do we go back and forth sometimes about the football programs (in fun, good nature). I graduated from OSU many, many years ago with a BSME.
But it sure would be great to see the two schools open up a series with each other. No doubt where ESPN gameday would camp at that Saturday.
Do you guys ever see ND joining a conference for football ?